Chapter 1:

Introduction to agement
 Learning outcomes

• Understand what an organisation is.

• Understand the definition and explanation of general
management.
• Differentiate between basic and additional
management tasks.
• Explain the process of management.
• Differentiate between the levels and kinds of
managers.
• Identify and understand the different roles of a
manager.
• Evaluate the different skills that a manager must have to manage
effectively.
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• Explain the different challenges that managers experience in the

 Introduction

• When one thinks about a manager, different things and images

come to mind.
• The question can be asked: Why does management matter?
• Well-managed organisations are more competitive – see also
Management in Action 1.1. (on next slide)
• Being a manager presents many challenges.
• In this chapter you will get to learn about:
- what management is;
- why it is important;
- what management tasks and skills are required by managers;
and
- some general perspectives on management.
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 Management in Action 1.1

What is the importance of management in the modern business world? Sound

management helps to maximise output while minimising costs. It also maintains
a dynamic balance between an organisation and its ever-changing environment.
Good management is responsible for the creation, survival and growth of an
organisation and its significance in the modern business world has increased
tremendously owing to the following:

•Businesses are more complex and are growing in size. • Work demands that
specialisation is becoming increasingly important. • There is tough competition
in the marketplace. • Labour is organising itself into unions. • Technology is
becoming more sophisticated and capital-intensive. • Organisational decisions
are becoming more complex. • Organisational regulation by government is
increasing. • The organisational environment is turbulent and ever changing. •
Stakeholder interests must be integrated. • Scarce resources must be utilised
optimally.

Source: Adapted from http://www.preservearticles.com/201106168019/what-is-the-importance-of-management-in-the-

modern-business-world.html (accessed on 11 July 2014)

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 What is an organisation?

• An organisation is defined as an arrangement of people in a

specific structure to accomplish some specific purpose.

• There are three common characteristics:

– Firstly, each organisation has a distinct purpose.
– Secondly, each organisation is composed of people.
– Thirdly, all organisations develop some deliberate
structure so that the members can do their work.

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 What is management?

• Management refers to getting things done through people.

• Management can be described as a process of coordinating work

activities through the functions of planning, organising,
activating (leading), and control so that these activities are
completed efficiently and effectively, and in line with the
organisational goals.

• The phrase “coordinating work activities” distinguishes a

managerial position from a non-managerial one.

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 What is management? (cont.)

• The concepts of efficiency and effectiveness are very important

in management.
• What is the difference between efficiency and effectiveness?
Effective = Necessary activities
need to be done to achieve
organizational goals

Efficient = Using the minimum

inputs to produce maximum
output
Table 1.1: Management functions

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 What is management? (cont.)

• Planning involves the process of defining goals, and

establishing strategies and plans for achieving those goals.
• Organising involves the process of determining what tasks are
to be done, how the tasks must be done, who must do them,
how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and
where decisions are to be made.
• Activating (leading) deals with the way to get employees
active to do their work. It involves leadership and how
to influence employees to be as productive as possible.
• Control involves monitoring the actual performance,
comparing the actual performance to what was planned, and
taking corrective action if necessary.
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 What is management? (cont.)

• The process of management = The idea that

management consists of a set of ongoing decisions and
actions.
• Management can also be seen as a process where the
basic management tasks/functions (P,O,A/L,C) must be
used to transform inputs (resources) to outputs
(products + services) as efficiently and effectively as
possible.

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 What is management? (cont.)

The management process is illustrated in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: The management process

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 Who is a manager?

• A manager’s job is to make sure that the organisation achieves

its goals.
• A manager can be defined as a person who coordinates and
integrates all work activities of employees in an organisation
with the purpose of achieving the vision and goals of the
organisation.
• A good manager is also someone who surrounds him- or
herself with competent people in order to achieve these goals.

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 Who is a manager? (cont.)

• First-line managers are managers at the lowest level of the

organisation – responsible for the daily supervision of non-
managerial employees who are involved with the production or
creation of the organisation’s products and services.
• Middle managers are the managers between the first-line level
and the top level of the organisation – they manage the work
of first-line managers.
• Top managers are the managers at the top level of the
organisation – responsible for making organisation-wide
decisions and establishing the goals and plans that affect the
entire organisation.

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 Who is a manager? (cont.)

Figure 1.2: Kinds and levels of m a

1 3

nagement
 Management roles

• Henry Mintzberg identified that managers perform ten different

roles or behaviours that he classified into three sets – see table
1.2.
• The interpersonal roles involve people and other duties that are
ceremonial and symbolic in nature. It includes being a figurehead,
leader, and liaison.
• The informational roles are related to the collecting and transfer
of information. The three informational roles include being a
monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson.
• The decisional roles deal with decision-making and choices and
include being an entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource
allocator, and negotiator.
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Role Description
Interpersonal
Figurehead The manager is the symbolic head and performs routine duties of a legal
or social nature, such as signing legal documents and cutting the
ribbon when opening a new building.
Leader Motivates and leads subordinates to become active.
Liaison Maintains good relationships with all internal and external stakeholders
by building good social and work relationships.
Informal
Monitor Collects a wide variety of internal and external information to develop
a thorough understanding of the organisation and its environment.
Disseminator Transmits all relevant information (both formal and informal) received
from different stakeholders (external and internal) to all members of
the organisation.
Spokesperson Conveys information to outsiders about the organisation’s plans, policies,
actions, and results.
Decisional
Entrepreneur Constantly searches the organisation and its environment for
opportunities to develop the organisational strategy and identify
new programmes.
Disturbance handler Takes corrective action when the organisation faces unexpected
disruptions and crises.
Resource allocator Makes or approves all significant organisational decisions and
allocates organisational resources of all types.
Negotiator Represents the organisation
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at major negotiations such as
negotiations with labour unions.
 Management skills
• Managers need some basic skills.

• Every manager, regardless of his or her level, should have the

following general skills or abilities and they are indispensable
for sound and effective management.
See Figure 1.3 Note how the amount of each skill needed differs per level.
A CEO needs to use more conceptual skills in his work than a first-line
manager.

Figure 1.3: Managerial skills at different management levels

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 Management skills (cont.)

• Technical skills are the knowledge of and proficiency in a

specific field – and the ability to apply specialised knowledge
and competency in a specific area.

• Human or interpersonal skills refer to the ability to work well

with other people, individually and in a group – good people
skills enable a manager to get the best out of their workers –
they know how to motivate, communicate, and delegate.

• Conceptual skills refer to the ability to think, conceptualise and

analyse abstract and complex situations – most important at
the top-management levels, because they must be able to
understand how things in the whole organisation fit together.

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 Management skills (cont.)

• A number of management abilities can be added and

grouped under these basic skills.

• Some management abilities that will help managers to cope

with their work:
– Communication skills: relates to interpersonal skills.
– Ability to work in a team: relates to interpersonal skills.
– Good time management: conceptual and technical skills.
– Problem-solving abilities: understand the bigger picture –
relates to conceptual skills and can also be linked to
technical skills if the problem requires technical
knowledge.
– Conflict solving abilities: relates to interpersonal skills.
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 Challenges for managers

• In a dynamic environment, managers are confronted with the

following challenges:
– Building the organisation to experience a competitive
advantage.
– Maintaining ethical and social responsibility.
– Managing a diverse workforce.
– Managing in a global environment.

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 Challenges for managers (cont.)

• Build the organisation to experience a competitive advantage

by applying the following components:
– Cost savings
• Cost savings are directly linked to efficiency.
• Customers value, lower-priced products and services (as a
result of cost savings), which mean improved customer
satisfaction.
– Differentiating quality
• An organisation has to offer customers something
different.
– Innovation and responsiveness
• Organisations that are successful in responding to the
needs of their customers will experience competitive
advantage. 20
 Challenges for managers (cont.)

• Maintaining ethical and socially responsible behaviour

– Pressure to perform can be healthy for an organisation.
– It can become negative if it gets overwhelming and if goals
must be achieved “at all costs” – for example,
decreasing the quality of products and services to save
costs, while maintaining high prices, is unethical.
– Challenge to managers globally is to maintain proper
standards in doing the right thing every time.

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 Challenges for managers (cont.)

• Managing a diverse workforce:

– An organisation’s workforce is not homogenous.
– An advantage of a diverse workforce is that different ideas,
skills, preferences, and experiences can increase creativity.
– Managers must be sensitive to, and value diversity.
– Challenges of managing a diverse workforce:
• building an organisational culture that supports
diversity;
• putting the necessary structures, policies and systems
in
place that support diversity;
• complying with the law regarding equity and BEEE (black
economic empowerment equity); and
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• providing training for and retaining diverse employees.
 Challenges for managers (cont.)

• Managing in a global environment

– Managing in the global environment not only means keeping
up with innovation, but also dealing with change.
– Information technology and the internet are changing the
business environment so quickly that managers should realise
that they must focus on speed.
– The challenge for managers is to learn new things daily to
keep up with the changing environment.
– Management must guide and instill an organisational culture
of learning.

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 Summary

• Overview of management.

• A definition of management, the levels, skills, and roles of

managers have been explained.
• A summary of the different management functions.

• The challenges of building an organisation to experience a

competitive advantage, how to maintain ethical and social
responsibility, the challenge of managing a diverse workforce,
and the challenge to manage in a global environment have been
discussed.
• Some of these issues will be discussed in more detail in later
chapters.
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